For The Good of the Industry

On page 78 of our November 1993 issue of Locksmith Ledger, I introduced a new system for reading GM Cavalier wafer locks. The process consisted of making several keys which had a cutaway portion and a hook portion on the key blank. The hook portion had different heights. Since wafer lock tumblers sit at different heights depending on the depth of cut, the hooks could be used to decode the height of the cuts without lock disassembly. Although the article described a specific system for Cavalier locks, mention was also made that this same decoding process could be adapted for decoding many other types of wafer locks.

A recent inquiry on our Locksmith Ledger website forum described an auto class which the writer had just attended where the instructor showed products with a similar design to the decoding keys described in our 1993 article. The writer wanted to know if I was still involved with the design these new wafer readers.

No one at Locksmith Ledger has a connection, financial or otherwise, with the company that was showing those products at the recent auto class. The copyright dates shown by this company on their website are several years after the Cavalier article was printed. The company in question may have either developed their decoding products on their own with no knowledge of my article or they may have used my article as the basis for developing their product line. It does not matter.

All articles printed in Locksmith Ledger are for the “good of the industry.” The reason our magazine exists, and one of the main reasons that a Locksmith Ledger subscription is so valuable, is because of the ideas presented in literally every issue. We may not have a great money-making product idea in each article, but if there is just one gem you find such as an installation technique or an article on a new unknown product or an advertisement showing a product you need, then we have done our job.

Time and time again we get phone calls or E-mails from locksmiths who are working on a job and need technical assistance. In 99% of the cases we can source a past monthly Locksmith Ledger edition and answer their questions. Locksmith Ledger is truly a magazine for a month and a resource for a lifetime. Our www.LocksmithLedger.com web site will be upgraded by the time you read this editorial so subscribers can more conveniently source any and all information from Locksmith Ledger articles dating back to 2003.